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Nature's Bountiful Benefits for Youth
Monica Lombardo • June 11, 2019
June is #NationalGreatOutdoorsMonth, which gives us the chance to celebrate the many benefits and of spending time outdoors, especially for kids. Throughout the school year, after-school programs at Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro South
offer each of our Club members access to enriching opportunities to try new things, take risks, and hone new skills. Those opportunities are amplified during the summer months when youth have the opportunity to spend significant time each day outdoors learning from nature!
Nature play gives children a chance to express their creativity and develop critical thinking skills, in addition to helping them learn and develop many essential life skills that benefit their development across multiple domains.
With summer right around the corner, our boys and girls will have the opportunity to continue growing and developing outside the classroom at Camp Riverside, the 45-acre home of our summer programming for you ages 4-15.
Summer camp affords children space and opportunities to explore new environments, challenges themselves physically, and develop invaluable social skills. Many of the youth we serve reside in densely populated urban neighborhoods and lack access to safe green spaces to play outdoors. That’s why summer camp is particularly critical for low-income urban youth and why we are excited to share that for the first time this summer, our Greater Brockton campers ages 5-12 will be joining their peers from Greater Taunton at Camp Riverside and will truly be able to experience summer as it should be!
Camp Riverside features incredible amenities which provide a variety of enriching activities for our youth New at Camp Riverside for summer 2019 is a 40’ climbing tower, high and low ropes adventure courses, a 400’ zip line, a new playground and outdoor classroom, an expanded waterfront, and much more! Thanks to the help of great volunteers from Sensata Technologies and Bank of America this spring, our campers will have easier access to begin their exploration thorough expanded nature trails over a new footbridge to our expanded waterfront area.
Numerous studies evidence that group-based
activities at summer camp help boost a child’s
self-esteem, as well as their overall happiness.
At summer camp, children partake in a variety of team-based activities that develop their abilities to work with others. Sports like soccer, baseball, and basketball help develop a child’s communication skills as they interact with their teammates and bond over fun games. The outdoors provides a space for children to run free and use their imagination, often coming up with games of their own with fellow campers. Comradery is a staple at summer camps - children learn group cheers and songs as they partake in the collective camp experience. Theme weeks like Mystery Mayhem, which calls for campers to work together to solve the mystery of the missing camp mailbox, facilitate both critical thinking and teamwork. Group activities at camp allow children to more easily form friendships with their peers, which can make transitions between school years easier by introducing a child to new interests and new friends to look forward to in the fall. Nature play also provides a reprieve from the stresses of school, technology, and many forms of peer pressure.
The benefits of the great outdoors aren’t limited to the summer months and neither is our commitment to connecting our youth with nature. A key part of our after-school Healthy Lifestyles programming is
Triple Play – a wellness program that strives to improve the overall health of our youth by increasing their daily physical activity, teaching them about good nutrition, and helping them develop healthy relationships with a focus on nourishing the mind, body, and soul. We encourage our youth to take control of their health by teaching them how to plant, grow, and harvest their own vegetables. This helps youth to develop respect for nature and learn how nature helps sustain their lives nutritiously, physically, and emotionally.
Integrating practical skills and activities into the outdoors engages our members who are offered limited recess and outdoor-time at school. According to the National Network of Public Health Institutes, nationwide only 35% of 6th-grade students participate in regularly scheduled recess. During the school year, it’s important for children to have time during the day to run and play. A 15 to 20-minute break outside allows children to release pent up energy and lets them return to class with higher awareness and stronger attention spans. A lack of free-play outside can negatively affect a child’s performance in school and at home.
Spending time outdoors can become more than just a break from the school day – it can become the place where children go to ask questions, experiment, and discover the world around them. Nature supports a child’s natural curiosity, and catering games and activities in the outdoors to supplement learning can be beneficial for children in many ways. This summer at Camp Riverside we are offering daily STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) activities, where campers will get to explore nature through our hiking trails and along the Three Mile River. Campers will also get to engage with life in nature through “raising” butterflies and tadpoles, and through birdwatching expeditions.
Not only does nature impact a child’s emotional development, but spending time in nature can help a child develop physically as well. Activities like climbing, jumping, and balancing help a child build an awareness of their body’s boundaries as well as develop their body’s essential muscles. At summer camp, children have access to a wide range of physical activities including soccer, baseball, and basketball, our climbing tower and ropes courses, swimming, archery and more.
Our New Heights Challenge Adventure Specialty Camp for campers ages 9-14 incorporates initiative games and challenges on our new 40-foot climbing tower and high and low ropes courses. Campers will have to incorporate the use of their full body as well as the help of their peers in order to complete the ropes course challenges. Exposure to a diverse range of outdoor activities helps a child develop the dexterity to perform a variety of tasks and even help them manage tasks they may encounter in the future.
The American Academy of Pediatrics
recommends 60 minutes daily of unstructured
free play as an essential part of children’s
physical and mental health and social
development.
Despite the positive benefits of nature, studies show that children are spending less time outdoors. The decrease in time spent outdoors is likely a cause of several factors, including the prevalence of social media and technology, as well as misconceptions about the importance of nature and its impact on children. Safety concerns are also a major issue among parents and guardians who believe that outdoor activity without parental guidance is potentially dangerous. Education on the importance of nature play for children is imperative for parents. In order to make the outdoors more accessible, Camp Riverside program fees are nearly 50% lower than the average figure families report paying for summer programs nationwide, and camperships are available to youth with significant financial hardships.
Nature is a place for kids to learn about themselves, their peers, and the world around them. Nature’s positive effects on a child’s emotional, physical, and social development reflect the importance of regular and daily outdoor play. National Great Outdoors Month reminds us how we can better educate ourselves and our community about the benefits of nature for youth and adults alike. We can’t wait to welcome our campers to Camp Riverside on June 24th! Let summer 2019 be the summer of greener spaces and brighter futures!
On May 5th, Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro South was recognized as “the safest Club in the nation” when we were awarded Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s 2023 Culture of Safety Award at BGCA’s 2023 National Conference in Orlando, Florida. As BGCA’s most coveted and prestigious national safety designation, the Culture of Safety Award is awarded annually to the local Club that best exemplifies an organization-wide commitment to physical and emotional safety. BGCMS was selected from more than 5,000 Clubs nationwide to receive this award. An award ceremony was held during BGCA’s 117th National Conference in Orlando, Florida, which was attended by representatives from thousands of local Boys & Girls Clubs across the United States. During the ceremony, BGCMS President & CEO, Derek Heim, was invited onstage to accept the award and share a few words about the Clubs’ mission and commitment to safety. “Safety is our number one priority,” Heim said. “We practice safety day in and day out. At BGCMS, every individual—from Club members all the way to the Board of Directors—is charged with keeping themselves and others safe.” Our commitment to safety is apparent in every aspect of leadership communication with staff and community members, including email messages, phone calls, and in-person conversations. Parents, staff, and community members can clearly recognize the critical role that safety has in Club strategy, programs, and operations. This award serves as a testament to BGCMS’s exceptional efforts in promoting safety throughout the organization and the broader community. Comprehensive training in child abuse prevention is required for all full-time and part-time staff. All staff are also required to download CrisisGo, an app that sends instant alerts and step-by-step guidelines in the event of an emergency. This year, our Clubs implemented WAVE, a drowning detection and prevention system. WAVE utilizes a comfortable, lightweight, head-band-like device to monitor how long each swimmer's face is fully submerged underwater. If someone submerges beyond the maximum safe allowable time, the WAVE system immediately alerts lifeguards so they can intervene – well before the event can turn dangerous. Throughout the past several years, our Clubs have been instrumental in implementing innovative safety programs and practices in the areas of facility improvement, emergency preparedness, and holistic youth well-being. BGCMS is honored to receive this award in recognition of its comprehensive safety efforts and is committed to continuing its innovative approaches as a community leader in safety.
Celebrating Women's History Month
What does an after school program look like when there is no longer a traditional school day? That’s the question that Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro South has been working hard to answer since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic forced our temporary closure back in mid-March. Our Clubs have continuously looked for new ways to adapt to meet the challenges of this not soon to be forgotten year. In March, our Club leadership quickly sprang into action, pivoting our long running daily Kids Café healthy meals program to a “ Grab & Go ” style weeknight dinner service just two days after first closing our doors, in order to ensure that youth who might not otherwise have consistent access to healthy meals could receive free and nutritious dinners that could be picked up from either our Brockton or Taunton Clubhouse and eaten safely in their own home. Ever since, our Clubs have been adapting swiftly and intentionally to continue serving youth in need, beginning with the launch of our “Club at Home” virtual programming suite which provided 5-10 virtual activities and programs for youth each weekday through the end of the school year in June. As spring turned to summer, our focus turned to safely operating the summer programs at Camp Riverside in Taunton and at Camp Brookside at our Brockton Clubhouse. That meant reducing the daily capacity in camp programs to around 250 youth per day compared to the more than 500 youth served each day in 2019 summer camp programs in order to ensure social distancing could be observed and group sizes limited to no more than 10 youth. We extended the summer camp season at both camps by two weeks, offering full-day programming through Labor Day in response to the delayed start to the 2020-2021 school year. When the school year did finally arrive, our Clubs were ready to spring into action again. On September 21st, we launched full-day Learning Pods programs at both our Brockton and Taunton Clubhouses. The program day begins at 7:30 a.m. and provides youth with a safe and supportive place to do their remote learning while parents and guardians return to work. When the classwork portion of the day concludes, our Clubs revert to their roots -- offering many of the traditional after school enrichment programs and recreational activities which our members have enjoyed through the years. “It’s more important now than ever that youth have a place where they can receive support for their social-emotional needs and for many kids, without in-person school, our Clubs are the only place where they receive that intentional support,” - Samantha Fagundes , Taunton Clubhouse Executive Director With this in mind, our Clubs have made intentional adaptations to ensure programs were poised to meet the evolving needs of members as they returned to the Clubhouse this fall. In developing our programs for this school year we worked harder than ever to ensure that our programs included opportunities for youth to have a voice -- providing enriching hands-on and interactive experiences. In our Learning Pods, youth are divided by grade level into groups of up to 10 students with dedicated staff assigned to each pod. Each Clubhouse is currently serving approximately 60 children per day in Learning Pods -- in addition to another 50 or so youth per Clubhouse who are enrolled in licensed school age child care programs -- and all youth receive breakfast, lunch, and snacks as part of the programming day. In the morning, youth log in to their remote classes and participate in their school’s assigned curriculum from algebra to physical education, all within their pod. After the school day wraps up, our pods participate in rotating supplementary enrichment activities including gym games, computer skill-building, arts and crafts, STEM exploration, and outdoor play. Our Learning Pods provide kids with in-person staff support during their remote learning along with the enrichment and socialization that they would otherwise miss out on by being away from their traditional classroom environment. So far, this model has been a winning formula, giving kids that might otherwise be home alone a chance to thrive in a familiar environment and giving parents peace of mind that their children are safe and supported throughout the day. “ I really love the staff members here and that I’m able to see my friends, ” says Story , a 9-year-old enrolled in the 4th grade Learning Pod at the Taunton Clubhouse. Her friend and classmate Maya , also 9, agrees. “ I think online school is easier here than at home because I’m around 4th graders like me, ” said Maya when asked about the challenges of switching to remote schooling. With the help of support systems like these, students are finding new successes in their online classes, making friends, and getting the space they need to safely play and grow. “Fittingly, the kids here at the Brockton Clubhouse are handling this change like champions... Virtual learning is not easy for anyone but they are doing their best to keep learning and growing.” - Rachel Dawson , Brockton Clubhouse Sr. Program Director In Brockton , in addition to running a full-day Learning Pods program, we are also operating one of the only dedicated in-person teen programs in the city at this time. The daily activity slate kicks off at 2:30 p.m. each weekday with homework help and dedicated study spaces available for teens to pre-book. Elective enrichment programs like songwriting and music production, college prep, and small group mentoring begin around 4:30 p.m. each day. At our Brockton Clubhouse we have also introduced a refreshed version of our “ Money Matters ” financial literacy program which is sponsored by SCU Credit Union . The program teaches our teen members best practices for saving, budgeting, paying for college, and other valuable financial skills they will need as they enter early adulthood. Also in October, we began offering a teen Healthy Relationships 101 peer leaders program aiming to combat dating violence in partnership with Family and Community Resources, Inc. and Cape Verdean Women’s United through grant funding from the Dept. of Public Health. Marisa Nieves , College & Career Access Director at the Brockton Clubhouse, can’t overstate the importance of having a safe place for teens during the coronavirus pandemic, saying: “When our teens returned in late September they hadn’t been in the building since mid-March and they really needed a place to have safe social interactions... Ultimately, it’s about giving them a space where they can grow and feel connected through our programming." For Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro South, 2020 has been about adapting our longstanding formula for impact to meet new challenges as they arise, and meeting those challenges head-on with resiliency and compassion for those most impacted by the social and economic effects of this sustained global health crisis. Adaptation has now become second nature, and despite all the challenges the year at hand has presented to our Clubs, we continue to live out their mission in support of the youth who depend on us. “Across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and across the Boys & Girls Clubs of America Movement, our rallying cry has been ‘ Whatever it takes to build great futures ’ for Club kids and this year it’s certainly taken more than any of us could have imagined. “I couldn’t be more proud of our organization and especially our frontline program staff for the flexibility and resilience they have shown these past 8 months... They may not realize it but our kids are learning so much just by watching how our staff team -- their mentors -- have risen to the occasion. I know that when we come through this we’ll all be coming away with a renewed sense of purpose and newfound confidence that we stand ready to take on any challenge that comes our way, together. ” - Derek Heim, BGCMS President & CEO One thing is for sure here at Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro South... today and every day we will continue to adapt, overcome, and we will continue to do whatever it takes to build great futures .
On July 1, 2019, the Boys & Girls Club of Brockton and the Boys & Girls Club of Taunton officially merged to become Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro South after nearly two years of partnership in order to do more for even more kids in Southeastern Massachusetts.
This month we’re celebrating the one year anniversary of our union and taking a pause to reflect on all that we have accomplished in a year that has been anything but ordinary.
At Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro South, the safety of our members has always been our highest priority, and now more than ever before during this unprecedented global health crisis, safety is at the forefront of every decision we make.
As we recognize hashtag#NationalWaterSafetyMonth throughout the month of May, we're reflecting on the critical importance of safety and skill in the water, and the longterm developmental benefits for youth of accomplishing the feat of learning to swim. For many of our Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro South members, learning how to swim serves as the foundation upon which they'll build the confidence they need to try even more new things as they march towards adolescence and young adulthood.
#NationalVolunteerMonth, recognized throughout April, gives us the chance to celebrate the many incredible individuals and groups that help us live out our mission and ensure that every child has the chance to have a great future!
At the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro South, #WomensHistoryMonth gives us the chance to honor our female founders, empower the women who carry out our mission, and embolden the future generation of female leaders within our Clubs
Each February, during #AmericanHeartMonth, Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro South doubles down on our commitment to educating our boys and girls about the long-term impacts of the choices they make today on their health and vitality in the future. We know the road to heart health begins in childhood and that the habits youth form today are likely to become their habits for life.
Mentors offer a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction – and during #NationalMentoringMonth we are shining a spotlight on the important role that mentoring plays in the positive personal development of our members at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro South.